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SEYMOUR  DURST 


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Avery  Architectural  and  Fine  Arts  Library 
Gift  of  Seymour  B.  Durst  Old  York  Library 


THE  STORY 
OF 

VAN  CORTLANDT 


by 

Katharine  M.  Beekman 
and 

Norman  Morrison  Isham,  F.  A.  I.  A. 


Printed  by  the  Colonial  Dames 
of  New  York. 
1917. 


Digitized  by 

the  Internet  Archive 

in  2013 

http://archive.org/details/storyofvancortlaOObeek_0 


THE  STORY  OF  VAN  CORTLANDT 


By  Katharine  M.  Beekman 

North  of  the  Island  of  Manhattan,  and  across  the 
Harlem  River  lies  a  long  flat  valley,  bounded  on  one 
side  by  the  wooded  hills  which,  crossing  the  state 
boundary,  form  the  mountain  ridges  of  Connecticut, 
and  on  the  other  by  those  which  gradually  rise  into 
the  Highlands,  bordering  the  Hudson.  Watering 
this  valley  is  a  brook,  known  as  Tibbits  brook,  but 
called  Mosholu  by  the  Indians,  which,  as  it  ap- 
proaches the  Spuyten  Duyvil  Creek,  loses  itself  in 
ground  so  low  that  it  is  wet  by  the  tide  when  high ; 
and  just  at  the  head  of  this  Marsh  stands  Van  Cort- 
landt  House,  in  Van  Cortlandt  Park. 

This  valley  was  originally  the  hunting  ground  of 
a  tribe  of  Indians,  members  of  the  Mohican  family, 
who  had  settled  in  a  large  village,  near  where 
Yonkers  now  stands,  on  the  bank  of  a  stream  which 
there  emptied  into  the  Hudson.  They  called  the 
valley  Neppenhaem,  and  used  its  flat  fertile  centre 
to  grow  corn,  while  the  wooded  hills  were  cleared 
of  underbrush,  for  hunting.  They  were  friendly 
Indians  until  1642-43,  when,  through  the  misman- 
agement of  Governor  Kieft,  there  was  a  rising  of 
the  tribes,  and  of  the  inhabitants  of  Westchester, 
called  by  the  Dutch,  "Oost  Dorp,"  or  East  Village; 
some  fled  to  Fort  Orange,  or  Albany,  and  some  to 
Holland,  while  many  were  massacred,  among  whom 

[3] 


was  the  well  known  Anne  Hutchinson  and  her 
family.  The  settlements  on  the  west  side  were  all 
destroyed,  and  the  county  abandoned. 

In  1645  a  peace  conference  was  held  in  New 
Amsterdam.  Governor  Kieft  met  the  chiefs  of  the 
different  tribes,  the  pipe  of  peace  was  smoked,  and, 
before  they  left,  the  Indians  were  all  given  hand- 
some presents.  To  buy  these  presents,  Kieft  bor- 
rowed the  money  from  Adrian  Van  der  Donck,  a 
gentleman  who  had  come  over  with  Killian  Van 
Rensselaer  in  1641,  and  was  at  this  time  the  Schout 
Fiscaal,  or  High  Sheriff,  in  charge  of  that  patroon's 
property,  at  Rensselaerwyck  near  Albany.  Van  der 
Donck  desired  to  be  a  patroon  himself,  and  had  tried 
to  get  a  grant  of  land  near  Catskill;  but  this  debt 
from  Kieft  gave  him  another  opening,  and  in  1646, 
just  before  the  arrival  of  Stuyvesant  and  the  resigna- 
tion of  Kieft,  he  bought  from  the  Indians,  and  had 
confirmed  to  him  by  a  grant  from  the  Governor,  land, 
embracing  the  country  from  Spuyten  Duyvil  Creek, 
along  the  Hudson  to  a  creek  called  Amackasson,  and 
then  inward  to  the  Bronx  River.  This  was  called 
Colen  Donck,  and  it  represents  the  only  patroonship 
in  Westchester,  and  the  first  large  grant,  made  in 
that  county.  Van  der  Donck,  in  spite  of  the  late 
Indian  Massacres,  which  kept  many  settlers  away, 
took  possession  of  his  land,  built  a  sawmill  near 
Yonkers,  on  a  stream  still  called  Sawmill  River,  the 
same  on  which  stood  the  Indian  Village,  and  a  bow- 
erie  or  farmhouse  not  far  from  the  present  Van  Cort- 
landt  House. 

In  the  fall  of  1910,  while  laying  a  sewer  across  the 
Park,  the  workmen  found  the  foundation  of  a  house 

[4] 


directly  in  front  of  the  present  one.  These  founda- 
tions of  stone  were  in  good  repair,  about  ten  feet 
underground,  and  still  with  the  whitewash  on  their 
interior  surface.  They  showTed  a  house  about  twenty- 
five  feet  deep  by  fifty  feet  long,  facing  east  and  west, 
and  with  a  wing  at  the  south  side.  It  was  built  of 
flat,  red,  Holland  brick;  and,  as  much  black  brick 
was  also  found,  the  walls  were  probably  picked  out 
in  pattern,  in  black.  The  windows  had  lead  frames 
and  exceedingly  thin  white  glass,  quite  different 
from  the  window  glass  of  the  later  colonial  houses. 
Bits  of  delft  china,  and  a  silver  button  found,  of  a 
kind  made  in  Zeeland,  showed  that  not  only  the 
house,  but  its  furnishings,  and  the  dress  of  its  in- 
habitants, were  all  of  Dutch  manufacture. 

This  is  all  that  remains  of  Adrian  Van  der 
Donck's  home,  evidently  one  of  the  best  of  its  kind. 
In  plan  it  seems  to  have  been  much  like  Governor 
Stuyvesant's  bowerie,  which  was  built  a  few  years 
later  and  stood  in  Second  Avenue,  near  St.  Mark's 
Church.  Van  der  Donck  did  not  live  much  at  his 
bowerie.  He  was  too  busy  in  New  Amsterdam,  for 
it  was  he  that  arranged  for  the  incorporation  of  that 
town,  and  instituted  the  first  municipal  organization 
of  what  is  now  the  City  of  New  York.  He  was  one 
of  the  two  lawyers  in  New  Netherland,  had  been 
educated  at  Leyden  University,  and  was  well  fitted 
to  take  a  leading  part  in  the  government  of  the  col- 
ony, while  his  birth  was  such  as  to  command  respect. 
To  this  the  city  of  Yonkers  owes  its  name,  for  his 
property  there  lost  the  name  of  Colen  Donck,  and 
was  called  Jonk  Heers,  or  the  young  nobleman's 
land.  He  was  a  friend  of  the  Indians,  and  describes 

[5] 


them  in  a  book  published  in  Holland  in  1655.  Their 
dress  of  skins  and  ornaments  of  shells,  or  red  dyed 
hair,  their  upright  carriage,  and  out-of-door  life,  are 
all  described ;  and  he  exclaims  at  the  fact  that  they 
had  no  set  time  for  meals,  but  ate  when  they  were 
hungry.  To  a  conservative  Hollander,  accustomed 
to  regular  hours  in  all  things,  such  habits  must  have 
been  the  most  surprising  of  any. 

The  first  picture,  then,  of  Van  Cortlandt  Park 
is  of  the  fields  and  woods  around  the  low  Dutch 
farm  house  of  Adrian  Van  der  Donck.  Its  double 
pitched  roof,  covered  with  dark-red  tiles,  its  walls 
of  richer  red,  ornamented  with  lines  of  black,  and 
its  hinged  windows,  reflected  the  sunlight  from  bril- 
liant diamond  panes,  of  thin,  perfectly  annealed 
glass.  Its  wide  oaken  door,  with  the  upper  part 
flung  back,  opened  on  the  stoop,  which  no  doubt  had 
seats  on  each  side;  and  there  the  patroon  could  sit, 
and  see  his  fields  beginning  to  show  the  effect  of 
labor  and  planting,  or  turn  to  the  salt  marsh  at  the 
south,  which  would  bring  remembrances  of  his  old 
home  in  Holland,  until,  perhaps,  his  reveries  were 
interrupted  by  a  visit  from  his  Indian  friends,  ad- 
vancing from  out  the  woods  in  single  file,  to  squat 
on  the  ground  beside  the  stoop.  Then  no  doubt 
clouds  of  smoke  filled  the  air;  for  the  Hollanders 
and  Indians  had  two  tastes  alike,  they  loved  silence, 
and  they  loved  tobacco. 

It  is  too  long  a  story  to  tell  why  Adrian  Van  der 
Donck,  after  all  his  work  for  New  Amsterdam,  was 
forced  in  1653  to  sail  for  Holland,  to  plead  his  own 
and  the  colony's  cause  before  the  States  General. 
There  he  was  detained  until  1655,  when,  having 

[6] 


gathered  much  to  add  to  his  home  on  this  side,  a 
vessel  was  loaded  ready  to  sail  for  America.  But 
he  was  not  to  see  his  comfortable  "bowerie"  again, 
for  he  died  and  was  buried  in  Holland.  He  is  said 
to  have  had  children,  who  were  probably  very 
young,  as  his  property  was  inherited  by  his  wife. 
This  lady  made  a  second  marriage  soon  afterwards, 
and  accompanied  her  husband,  whose  name  was 
O'Neale,  to  his  home  in  Maryland,  and  for  ten 
years  Colen  Donck  lay  quite  uncared  for. 

In  1666  the  colony  had  come  under  English  rule, 
and  all  the  great  land  owners  proceeded  to  make 
their  titles  perfect  by  procuring  a  further  grant  from 
the  English  Crown.  Among  the  patentees  who  ap- 
peared before  the  Governor  were  the  O'Neales;  and 
after  the  Indians  had  been  questioned  and  had  re- 
plied that  Van  der  Donck  had  honestly  given  them 
all  that  they  asked  for  the  land,  the  patent  for  all 
the  Colen  Donck  property,  except  the  most  southern 
part,  which  was  taken  into  the  Fordham  Manor, 
was  made  out  to  the  O'Neales.  It  was  then  sold  in 
small  parcels;  and  the  purchase  of  a  part  of  it  by  a 
man  named  Tibbits,  gives  its  present  name  to  the 
brook,  through  which  Van  Cortlandt  lake  empties 
into  Spuyten  Duyvil  Creek.  The  ferry,  where  the 
Kingsbridge  is  now,  was  so  much  used  at  this  date, 
that  a  causeway  was  built  from  its  terminal  to  the 
land.  The  tide,  in  rising,  formed  a  second  tideway 
near  the  Westchester  Shore;  and  across  this  the 
causeway  was  built,  it  being  the  first  step  in  the 
Albany  Post  Road  which  was  to  come  later.  Travel 
toward  Albany  at  that  time  was  entirely  by  water, 
and  not  until  1694  was  the  Kingsbridge  built;  but 

[7] 


as  early  as  1673  a  post  rider  crossed  the  ferry  once  a 
month  for  Boston,  to  carry  the  mail  between  that 
city  and  New  York,  the  letters  being  paid  for  when 
received,  like  any  other  package.  The  bridge  was 
built  by  Frederick  Philipse,  to  take  the  place  of  the 
ferry.  This  gentleman  was  Lord  of  the  Manor  lying 
north  of  the  O'Neale  patent,  and  he  gradually  by 
purchase  added  property  to  that  which  he  already 
possessed,  until  his  land  extended  from  the  Croton 
River  to  Spuyten  Duyvil  Creek. 

Frederick  Philipse  married  a  Van  Cortlandt, 
from  the  manor  at  Croton,  for  a  second  wife,  and 
her  brother  Jacobus  proceeded  to  fall  in  love  with, 
and  marry,  Philipse's  adopted  daughter  Eva.  To 
fit  themselves  out  with  a  home,  he  purchased  from 
his  father-in-law,  in  1699,  the  fifty  acres  now  in- 
cluded in  Van  Cortlandt  Park,  the  same  land  which 
was  conveyed  to  the  city  in  1889  by  the  direct  de- 
scendant of  Jacobus  and  Eva  Van  Cortlandt.  In 
1700  another  house  was  built,  at  a  point  nearer  the 
stream  than  Van  der  Donck's  and  the  brook 
was  dammed  to  give  power  for  a  mill,  to  be  used 
both  for  sawing  wood  and  grinding  corn.  This  mill 
endured  until  1889,  after  which  it  fell  into  disrepair, 
and  was  finally  burnt  during  a  thunder  storm  in 
1901.  All  that  remains  of  it  is  one  of  the  mill  stones, 
which,  being  cut  from  a  single  rock,  instead  of  being 
in  several  pieces,  bound  by  iron,  serves  as  a  base  to 
the  sun  dial  in  the  present  garden. 

We  must  try  and  understand  how  far  away 
Jacobus  Van  Cortlandt  lived  from  any  town,  to  im- 
agine life  in  Van  Cortlandt  Park  early  in  the  18th 
century.  To  ride  from  the  little  city  of  New  York, 

[8] 


all  of  it  below  Wall  Street,  on  not  the  best  of  roads, 
the  length  of  Manhattan  Island,  was  really  a  jour- 
ney; so  his  place  at  Little  or  lower  Yonkers,  as  it 
was  called,  had  to  support  itself,  and  all  living  on 
it.  Thus  the  second  picture  of  Van  Cortlandt  is  a 
busy  place,  where  all  are  at  work.  Sheep  must  be 
raised  to  provide  wool,  which  was  spun  and  woven 
on  the  place,  flax  must  be  grown  to  make  linen,  and 
both  then  used  to  make  the  clothing  needed  by 
Master  and  Mistress,  as  well  as  the  family  and  the 
slaves,  who  were  the  servants.  Wood  was  cut  and 
sawed,  not  only  for  building  purposes,  but  also  to 
burn.  In  the  fall,  great  wagons  rilled  with  grain 
from  the  outlying  lands  were  brought  in,  drawn  by 
patient  oxen;  and  it  must  be  ground  and  stored,  or 
sent  away  for  sale.  At  the  same  time  of  the  year  the 
smoke  house  begins  to  work;  and  hams,  bacon,  and 
brisket  are  made  ready  for  the  winter's  food,  while 
sausages  and  head  cheese  are  made,  to  be  eaten 
sooner.  Then  there  was  cider,  blackberry,  and  cherry 
brandy,  and  currant  wine,  to  make;  rose  water  for 
flavoring,  and  innumerable  preserved  or  dried  fruits 
and  vegetables;  while  all  the  seed  for  the  coming 
spring  planting  had  to  be  prepared  and  carefully 
kept,  and  the  various  roots,  vegetables,  and  apples 
stored  in  the  deep  cellars,  dug  to  keep  them  from 
freezing.  There  was  the  raising  and  care  of  the 
stock  needed  on  such  an  estate,  while  artisans  of 
every  kind,  from  cobblers  to  wheelwrights,  and  car- 
penters to  masons,  were  busy  on  the  place.  Van 
Cortlandt  Park  was  then  a  Southern  plantation,  or 
Western  ranch,  within  what  is  now  the  limits  of  our 
city;  and  so  successful  was  the  place  that,  at  the 

[9] 


death  of  Jacobus,  his  son  Frederick  van  Cortlandt 
inherited  a  flourishing  estate,  and  was  ready  in  1748 
to  build  the  present  larger  house. 

By  this  time  New  York  had  begun  its  commer- 
cial existence,  and  most  of  the  gentlemen  of  that  time 
were  interested  in  the  importation  and  distribution 
of  the  necessaries  and  luxuries  demanded  by  the  in- 
habitants of  the  Colony.  Up  to  1700  there  had  been 
no  money  to  speak  of,  and  all  trade  was  a  matter  of 
exchange  of  commodities.  Now  this  was  changed, 
and  men  were  growing  rich  in  the  sense  of  the  word 
as  used  at  present.  This  made  much  more  passing 
to  and  fro  through  Westchester,  over  the  Boston,  or 
the  Albany  Post  Road ;  and,  running  as  the  last  did 
directly  past  Cortlandt  House,  many  more  visitors 
were  brought  to  the  place,  while  the  growing  settle- 
ment about  it  and  the  Manor  Houses  on  the  near-by 
estates,  also  supplied  many  guests,  who  were  enter- 
tained with  that  hospitality  which  made  America 
known  throughout  the  world.  It  is  hard  in  these 
days  of  hotels  and  rapid  transit,  to  understand  the 
continual  and  open  handed  hospitality  of  the  times, 
when  travelers  could  move  no  more  rapidly  than  a 
horse  would  take  them,  and  inns  were  few  and  far 
between.  Then  no  one  was  turned  from  the  door, 
and  the  fact  that  the  rooms  of  a  house  were  already 
filled  was  no  reason  for  refusing  an  added  guest. 
For  evening  parties  the  guests  came  from  far  off; 
and  they  were  expected  to  stay  the  night,  the  latter 
part  being  spent  on  any  couch  which  could  be  pro- 
vided by  the  host,  and  sometimes  that  was  the  floor. 

The  wine  cellar  was  stocked  by  private  importa- 
tion in  those  days,  and  well  stocked,  direct  from 

[10] 


Madeira  or  Spain.  So  generous  was  the  supply  that 
it  was  used  by  some  of  the  gentlemen  to  purchase 
goods  from  the  pirates  and  freebooters,  who  were 
able  to  supply  articles  unique  of  their  kind,  and  bet- 
ter and  cheaper  than  those  ordinarily  brought  to  the 
colony;  and  to  them  good  wine  was  the  best  pay- 
ment. Each  householder  had  his  own  bottles,  with 
his  name  blown  in  the  glass;  and  some  of  these, 
marked  Van  Cortlandt,  can  be  seen  now  at  the  house. 
This  then  is  the  third  picture  of  Van  Cortlandt,  a 
charming  country  house,  filled  with  joy  and  hospi- 
tality, sunshine  and  laughter  all  about  it.  The 
garden  filled  with  flowers  behind  the  box  borders, 
lies  in  front  of  the  house;  and  the  trees,  grown  large, 
shade  it  on  each  side,  while  both  in  summer  and 
winter  gay  parties  in  post-chaise,  or  in  sleigh,  come 
and  go  to  its  hospitable  doors,  always  welcome, 
while,  in  the  dreaded  cholera  years,  it  was  filled 
with  those  seeking  refuge. 

And  so  the  years  rolled  by,  until  the  horrors  of 
war  arose;  for  the  colonists  protested  against  their 
government  by  men  so  far  away  and  so  little  con- 
cerned for  their  prosperity.  The  proprietor  of  Van 
Cortlandt  at  this  time,  having  inherited  it  from  his 
father  in  1750,  was  a  man  of  such  character,  that  all, 
of  every  shade  of  opinion,  trusted  him,  and  it  is  said 
that  he  was  even  able  to  influence  the  British  Com- 
manders, at  times,  in  favor  of  the  Americans.  West- 
chester County,  however,  was,  more  than  other 
counties,  divided  in  opinion  between  those  who  asked 
for  liberty  and  those  who  remained  loyal  to  the 
Crown.  These  last  were  somewhat  in  the  majority, 
and  bitter  party  feeling  at  once  began  to  show  itself; 

[11] 


some  of  the  inhabitants  going  into  the  different 
armies,  but  a  large  number  remaining  to  harry  one 
another  and  the  country  side. 

In  1775  the  Sons  of  Liberty  in  New  York  City 
managed  to  transport  a  quantity  of  cannon  from 
there  to  Kingsbridge,  only  to  have  them  spiked  and 
rendered  useless  by  a  band  of  Tories.  Afterwards, 
in  anticipation  of  the  arrival  of  British  troops,  it 
was  decided  to  carry  more  cannon  to  Kingsbridge; 
but  horses  could  not  be  found  to  do  the  work,  and 
General  Charles  Lee,  when  appealed  to,  said  "Chain 
twenty  damn  Tories  to  each  and  let  them  drag  them 
out,"  evidently  thinking  that  a  fit  retaliation  for  the 
spoiling  of  the  others.  The  first  orders  of  General 
Howe,  in  1776,  when  he  arrived  in  New  York,  sent 
vessels  of  war  up  the  Hudson  to  Kingsbridge,  which 
was  then  held  by  the  Americans  under  General 
Mifflin;  and  from  that  time  until  1783  that  bridge 
was  in  the  hands  of  one  side  or  the  other,  the  fighting 
between  them  being  continual  except  in  winter,  when 
the  British  retired  to  quarters  on  Manhattan  Island. 
Before  the  battle  of  White  Plains,  the  Continental 
army,  under  Washington,  passed  from  Harlem 
Heights  across  Van  Cortlandt  Park;  and,  after  that 
battle,  a  military  order  of  General  Howe,  dated 
from  the  house,  shows  that  it  was  headquarters  for  a 
short  time.  Augustus  Van  Cortlandt,  who  had  been 
Clerk  of  New  York,  brought  away  with  him  the 
records  of  the  city;  and,  as  a  really  safe  place,  buried 
them  on  Vault  Hill,  just  back  of  the  house,  the  place 
of  burial  of  his  family — while  an  old  servant  of  the 
family  emptied  the  wine  closet,  placing  all  the  bot- 
tles in  the  vault  dedicated  to  the  departed  Van 

[12] 


Cortlandts.  This  wine  was  afterwards  brought  back 
to  the  house,  none  the  worse  for  its  ten  years  or  so 
in  the  tomb,  and  was  afterwards  called  "Resurrec- 
tion Madeira." 

Later,  in  1776,  General  Howe  ranged  the  front 
of  his  army  at  the  Kingsbridge,  while  the  Americans 
placed  theirs  at  Tarrytown,  and  so  they  remained 
for  seven  years.  The  intervening  land,  which  a 
glance  at  the  map  will  show,  was  mostly  the  Van 
Cortlandt  property,  was  called  the  Neutral  Ground; 
but,  alas,  its  name  did  not  mean  that  hostilities 
ceased  there.  On  the  contrary,  it  was  one  continual 
scene  of  skirmish  fighting.  Twice  during  that  time 
the  Continental  army  pushed  its  outposts  to  Kings- 
bridge,  and  twice  the  British  pushed  theirs  to  Tarry- 
town  ;  while  time  out  of  number  strong  detachments 
from  either  side  made  forays  across  the  country, 
always  crossing  what  is  now  Van  Cortlandt  Park. 
Worse  almost  than  the  movements  of  the  regular 
troops  were  the  marauding  expeditions  of  the  guer- 
illa companies,  formed  of  the  natives,  who,  as  I 
have  said,  were  opposed  in  politics.  The  American 
sympathizers  were  called  "Skinners";  the  Tories, 
"Cow-boys,"  this  name  being  gained  by  their  acting 
as  guides  and  guards  to  parties  of  farmers  who 
wished  to  bring  their  cattle  within  the  British  lines 
at  Fordham,  for  the  price  they  could  get  in  New 
York  was  better  and  surer  than  that  gotten  from  the 
Continentals.  These  trips  were  made  at  night 
through  the  woods  or  over  untraveled  roads,  and  al- 
ways under  guard.  To  head  off  these  parties  was 
the  business  of  the  Skinners,  and  warfare  between 
them  was  more  like  that  of  Indians  than  of  civilized 

[13] 


beings.  They  had  no  pity  on  the  inhabitants  of  the 
countryside,  who  woke  to  be  plundered  by  one  party, 
only  to  be  tortured  by  the  other  before  nightfall; 
and,  when  the  two  met,  the  results  may  be  judged 
of  by  the  story  that  an  oak  tree  not  far  from  Van 
Cortlandt  House  was  found  one  day  to  have  thirty 
cow-boys  hanging  from  its  limbs. 

In  1780  Washington  returned  to  Westchester  and 
took  command  of  the  Continental  Army.  Aaron 
Burr  was  given  command  of  the  neutral  ground,  and 
the  French  officers,  who  had  come  to  help  the 
Americans,  were  with  General  Washington.  These 
foreign  officers  were  most  anxious  to  force  battle 
with  Lord  Howe,  and  take  New  York.  If  their 
plans  had  been  carried  out,  Van  Cortlandt  might 
have  been  a  battlefield  renowned  in  history;  but  the 
decisive  battles  were,  in  the  end,  fought  far  away 
from  there,  when  Vault  Hill  played  its  part,  for  on 
it  was  lighted  one  of  the  watch  fires  by  which  Wash- 
ington misled  the  British,  who  fancied  his  army  still 
there,  after  they  had  started  their  long  march  to 
Virginia,  and  to  victory  at  Yorktown. 

It  was  in  the  year  1780  that  the  Van  Cortlandt 
property  was  filled  with  British  troops.  An  officer 
of  the  Green  Yagers,  named  Von  Kraft,  has  left  a 
diary  of  that  year,  which  he  passed  with  his  regi- 
ment, and  two  others,  in  huts,  which  they  built  on 
Spuyten  Duyvil  Hill,  and,  as  he  says,  "near  Cort- 
landts."  He  complains  of  being  kept  awake  by 
mosquitoes,  and  of  the  lack  of  food,  and  especially 
that  they  had  neither  beer  nor  vinegar.  Whether 
one  was  considered  an  equivalent  of  the  other,  as  a 
beverage,  he  does  not  say.    In  August  they  held  a 

[14] 


large  Church  parade,  under  the  apple  trees  at  Van 
Cortlandt;  but  by  October  they  had  evidently  left 
the  house,  as  he  records  the  fact  of  an  attack  on  his 
outposts  by  some  rebels  who  came  from  "Cortlandts." 
These  rebels  gave  the  sentries  a  sound  drubbing, 
took  their  horses  and  their  arms,  and  then  let  them 
go  free.  Though  pursued,  they  were  not  caught,  at 
which  the  captain  says  the  Yagers  were  much 
ashamed.  This  was  on  the  11th  of  October;  but  on 
the  22nd  the  English  were  back  at  Van  Cortlandt 
house  again,  while,  on  the  26th,  they  patrolled  as 
far  as  the  Philipse  Manor  House  in  Tarrytown; 
and  by  December  Van  Cortlandt  House  was  the 
headquarters  for  Sir  Henry  Erskine,  who,  in  con- 
junction with  a  force  going  up  the  Hudson  by  boat, 
marched  from  there  to  Tarrytown,  to  crush  the  Con- 
tinentals, only  to  find  that  they  had  left  two  days 
before.  It  was  these  Hessian  Troops,  the  Green 
Yagers  and  Emmerich's  Chasseurs,  who  fought  with 
and  exterminated  the  band  of  Indians  who  are 
buried  in  the  park,  in  what  is  called  Indian  Field. 

Beside  the  regular  troops  and  the  guerilla  bands 
who  harried  the  neutral  ground,  a  company  of 
devoted  men  acted  as  guides  and  as  spies  for  the 
Americans,  who  should  not  be  forgotten.  They  must 
have  been  well  known  at  Van  Cortlandt  House.  The 
names  of  several  of  the  best  known  were  Oakley, 
Odell,  Young  and  Dyckman,  a  name  kept  alive  by 
a  street  and  a  station  on  the  subway.  There  were 
two  brothers  Oakley,  and  two  brothers  Dyckman; 
and  as  one  of  each  couple  had  a  tavern,  one  on 
Manhattan  Island,  and  one  on  the  Post  Road  in 
Westchester,  the  brothers  had  the  best  of  chances  to 

[15] 


gather  news,  and  outdo  the  enemy.  They  were  not 
afraid  of  a  fight,  indeed  gloried  in  it,  as  one  of  their 
adventures  show.  Three  of  these  men  were  guiding 
a  company  of  Continentals,  who  were  in  pursuit  of 
a  party  of  British  troops,  guarding  some  cattle  to 
Fordham.  They  failed  to  catch  their  prey,  but  were 
persuaded  by  a  unanimous  request  of  the  guides  to 
follow  across  the  Van  Cortlandt  property,  and  into 
the  camp  at  Fordham.  There  the  Hessians  had  re- 
tired into  a  house  for  the  night.  Nevertheless,  the 
guides  who  were  in  advance,  stole  up  on  the  sentries, 
whom  they  seized  and  gagged;  and  then  Dyckman 
climbed  up  on  the  windowsill,  and  tried  to  look 
through  the  crack  of  the  heavy  shutters.  All  the 
soldiers  within  were  asleep,  except  four  who  were 
playing  cards.  These  men  were  disturbed  by  the 
movement  of  the  shutter,  and  Dyckman,  seeing  he 
had  no  time  to  lose,  threw  himself  through  the  glass 
of  the  window,  falling  full  length  on  the  floor.  He 
was  instantly  followed  by  the  other  guides,  and  their 
rather  surprising  entrance  so  paralysed  the  soldiers 
that  there  was  time  to  pick  themselves  up  and  un- 
lock the  door  for  the  American  troops,  before  they 
were  attacked.  All  the  British  were  taken  prison- 
ers, and  led  quietly  off  without  alarming  the  rest  of 
the  camp. 

This  will  give  some  idea  of  the  fourth  picture  of 
Van  Cortlandt,  in  the  seven  years  that  it  was  the 
centre  of  the  neutral  ground.  Its  beautiful  fields  a 
wreck,  its  woods  filled  with  Skinners,  or  Cow-boys, 
both  utterly  unthinking  of  the  rights  or  life  of  any 
one.  Its  mill  still  working,  sometimes  at  the  order 
of  the  British,  and  sometimes  at  those  of  the  Con- 

[16] 


tinentals,  but  always  under  such  orders,  so  that  the 
owners  could  not  profit  by  its  work.  At  times,  the 
old-time  hospitality  is  shown.  Generals  Washington 
and  Rochambeau  dined  at  Van  Cortlandt  House  on 
January  2nd,  1781,  as  the  guests  of  Mr.  Van  Cort- 
landt; and  no  doubt  at  other  times,  there  were  guests 
of  the  same  quality;  but  even  though  the  house  itself 
and  its  inhabitants  escaped  real  hurt,  they  must  have 
been  made  unhappy  by  the  miseries  suffered  by  all 
about  them. 

In  November,  1783,  Washington  was  again  at 
Van  Cortlandt  House,  where  he  supped  and  slept 
before  leaving  the  next  morning,  surrounded  by  a 
brilliant  staff  of  American  and  foreign  officers,  to 
ride  to  New  York,  on  its  evacuation  by  the  British. 

Since  that  time  the  Van  Cortlandt  House  has 
been  the  home  of  the  family  until  1889,  when  it 
passed  to  the  city.  During  those  years  it  was  kept 
up  in  the  same  hospitable  way,  a  way  inherited,  like 
other  virtues,  in  our  older  families.  Among  the 
distinguished  guests  were  the  Duke  of  Clarence, 
afterwards  William  the  Fourth  of  England,  and 
Admiral  Digby  of  the  British  Navy.  This  gentle- 
man left  behind  him  two  rather  impressive  black 
and  white  fowl,  made  in  India  and  captured  on  a 
Spanish  Man-of-War,  called  Vultures,  though  of 
rather  a  conventional  type.  These  birds  ornamented 
the  gate-posts  of  the  place  for  years,  and  may  now 
be  seen  in  one  of  the  rooms  of  the  house,  attracting 
much  attention,  in  as  far  as  they  are  so  very  different 
from  any  known  fowl,  even  transcending  our  own 
national  bird  as  he  appears  on  the  shield  of  the 
United  States. 


[17] 


In  1896  the  city  leased  Van  Cortlandt  House  to 
the  Society  of  Colonial  Dames  of  the  State  of  New 
York,  and  by  them  it  has  been  set  apart  and  dedi- 
cated to  giving  the  school  children  and  public  of 
New  York  some  idea  of  what  life  was  in  the  days 
of  the  Colonies. 

To  achieve  this  end,  a  special  Act  of  Legislature 
was  necessary  and  this  was  gotten  by  the  work  of  a 
few  devoted  members  of  the  Society,  headed  by  its 
first  president,  Mrs.  Howard  Townsend,  under 
whose  ennobling  influence  the  Society  had  so  grown 
in  its  few  years  of  existence,  that  it  was  ready  to 
undertake  successfully  the  work  entailed  in  the  hold- 
ing of  this  house  as  a  trust,  for  the  City,  and  for  the 
public. 

To  her  indomitable  energy,  which  brought  every 
influence  possible  to  bear  in  Albany,  the  public  is 
indebted  for  a  museum,  visited  each  year,  by  from 
seventy-five  to  a  hundred  thousand  children,  and  its 
work  towards  Americanizing  the  many  foreigners 
among  those  children,  is  acknowledged  to  be  of  the 
greatest  importance,  by  the  other  museums,  and  by 
the  teachers  of  the  City.  It  stands  also  as  an  added 
honor  to  the  wisdom  of  Mrs.  Townsend,  whose  name 
was  already  known,  in  the  annals  of  the  Women's 
Auxiliary,  to  the  Sanitary  Commission  of  the  Civil 
War,  and  by  her  services  at  Mount  Vernon,  the 
home  of  Washington,  the  saving  of  which  from  ruin, 
is  perhaps  the  greatest  monument  to  the  power  of 
women's  work  in  the  United  States.  This  sacredly 
historic  spot  was  first  acquired  by  a  corporation  of 
women,  representing  the  States  of  the  Union,  in 
1856,  but  the  breaking  out  of  the  Civil  War,  stopped 

[18] 


any  work  of  improvement  upon  it,  although  it  was 
held  to  be  neutral  ground,  and  passed  through  those 
years  of  conflict,  unharmed  by  the  soldiers  of  either 
side. 

By  1876,  the  year  that  Mrs.  Townsend  was  ap- 
pointed vice-regent  at  Mount  Vernon,  she  had  al- 
ready shown  her  interest  in  the  work,  as  the  head 
of  a  Mount  Vernon  Aid  Society,  in  this  State,  and 
through  this  Society,  passed  the  first  really  large  sum 
of  money  to  the  endowment,  while  by  1879,  this  was 
added  to  so  materially,  that  the  special  work  of  her 
State,  the  renovation  and  furnishing  of  the  Banquet- 
ing Hall,  was  assured.  In  1891  Mrs.  Townsend  was 
elected  Regent  in  Chief,  and  by  that  time,  owing 
largely  to  her  wisdom  and  energy,  Mount  Vernon 
had  begun  to  be,  what  we  know  it  has  since  become, 
under  her  care,  a  fitting  resting  place  for  America's 
greatest  hero,  and  the  end  of  many  a  pilgrimage, 
from  the  world  over.  Mrs.  Townsend  was  honorary 
Regent  of  Mount  Vernon,  and  Honorary  President 
of  the  Colonial  Dames  of  the  State  of  New  York, 
and  of  the  National  Society  of  the  Colonial  Dames 
of  America  until  her  death,  but  no  honor  shown  her 
can  be  a  full  expression  of  the  gratitude  and  admira- 
tion the  women  of  those  Societies  feel  they  owe  to 
one  whose  patriotism  and  public  spirit  suggested 
their  work,  and  whose  wisdom  guided  their  course 
and  whose  unstinted  affection  and  approbation  helped 
their  efforts  and  rewarded  their  success. 

In  May,  1897,  the  Van  Cortlandt  House  was 
opened  to  the  public,  furnished  as  a  residence  of  a 
Colonial  family,  though  with  rooms  set  aside  for 
museum  exhibits.   In  these  rooms  were  to  be  found 

[19] 


the  Revolutionary  relics  picked  up  about  the  park 
property,  the  remains  of  the  many  forays  made 
across  it;  or,  as  in  the  case  of  a  collection  of  bone 
buttons  partly  cut  or  entirely  finished,  the  reminder 
of  those  Hessians  who  lived  in  huts  on  Spuyten 
Duyvil  Hill  for  so  long  a  time  that  they  started  a 
button  manufactory. 

And  thus  we  reach  the  last  picture  of  Van  Cort- 
landt.  Its  fields  still  lie  green  and  fertile  about  the 
house,  while  the  wooded  hills  rise  on  each  side.  But 
no  longer  are  they  used  to  grow  the  corn,  or  shelter 
the  game  used  by  the  Indians,  or  to  support  the 
patriarchal  surroundings  of  its  early  proprietors. 
Tibbits  brook  flowed  is  changed,  for  that  part  which 
sunlight  and  shade,  and  find  rest  and  recreation 
within  its  borders.  Only  the  marsh  through  which 
Tibbitts  brook  flowed  is  changed,  for  that  part  which 
falls  within  the  Park  boundaries  has  been  re- 
deemed, and  is  now  a  garden. 

This  garden  is  in  the  same  place  as  the  one  which 
Frederick  Van  Cortlandt  laid  out;  and  for  a  second 
time  the  land  is  reclaimed  from  its  swampy  condi- 
tion. In  the  older  garden,  the  terrace  at  the  west 
side  was  planted  with  apple,  plum  and  pear  trees, 
while  that  to  the  east  was  filled  with  flowering 
shrubs,  such  as  althea,  snowballs,  lilacs  and  flower- 
ing currants.  Across  the  top  of  the  north  terrace  ran 
a  hedge  of  box  trees,  planted  to  keep  the  north 
winds  away  from  the  garden ;  and  the  huge  size  this 
hedge  attained  gave  rise  to  the  idea  that  the  air, 
blowing  over  it,  caused  the  curious  disintegration  of 
the  glass  in  the  windows  of  the  house.  To  the  west 
of  that  building  a  lawn  stretched  beyond  the  present 

[20] 


Broadway,  then  called  the  "Turnpike,"  to  the  old 
Albany  Road;  and,  on  the  west,  the  entrance  to  a 
lane  which  ran  down  the  hill  to  the  mill,  and  on  to 
the  farmer's  house,  was  guarded  by  gate  posts, 
crowned  by  the  vultures  already  mentioned.  The 
dyking  of  the  lowland  then  was  more  perfect  than 
the  present  draining  of  the  garden,  for  the  land  to 
the  south  of  it  was  in  good  grass  for  hay  and  graz- 
ing while  now  it  is  useless  swamp  land,  and  can  only 
be  crossed  by  the  causeway  on  the  southern  boundary 
of  the  park. 

The  garden  has  been  a  pet  scheme  of  the  Society 
of  Colonial  Dames,  who  have  watched  with  interest 
the  draining  of  the  land  by  canals  and  its  filling  in 
with  loam.  Of  its  kind  it  is  the  only  one  in  the 
parks  about  New  York;  and  it  is  becoming  more 
perfect  each  year,  so  that  the  hope  that  it  may  in 
time  be  the  model  for  more  old-fashioned  gardens 
does  not  seem  misplaced.  Van  Cortlandt  House 
stands  firm  and  strong  in  spite  of  its  many  years  of 
life,  and  its  door  is  still  hospitably  opened  to  all 
visitors.  Beside  it  lie  two  cannons  from  Fort  Inde- 
pendence, perhaps  some  of  those  sent  from  New 
York  by  General  Charles  Lee;  and  another  re- 
minder of  the  time  when  Van  Cortlandt  was  neutral 
ground  is  a  window  from  one  of  the  sugar  houses, 
though  not  the  oldest,  used  as  prisons  in  the  city, 
when  every  large  building,  even  the  churches,  were 
filled  with  American  prisoners. 

One  of  the  reasons  for  the  existence  of  the  Society 
of  Colonial  Dames,  is  to  stimulate  a  spirit  of  true 
patriotism  and  a  genuine  love  of  country,  and  to 
impress  upon  the  young  the  obligation  of  honoring 

[21] 


the  memory  of  those  men  of  the  Colonial  period, 
who,  by  their  rectitude,  courage  and  self-denial,  laid 
the  foundation  of  this  nation;  and  the  holding  of 
Van  Cortlandt  House  in  trust  for  the  public  by  the 
Colonial  Dames  of  the  State  of  New  York,  beside 
being  the  preservation  of  an  old  and  historic  build- 
ing, is  an  effort  to  teach  such  history.  The  land 
bears  the  name  of  a  family  whose  roll  of  honor  shows 
a  Governor  of  the  State,  an  Officer  high  in  the  ranks 
of  the  Continental  Army,  and,  earlier  still,  a  man 
who  filled  with  honor  almost  every  office  in  the  gift 
of  the  Colony.  To  study  their  lives,  and  those  of 
others  of  the  same  name,  in  the  long  list  of  the  men 
who,  from  Colonial  times  have  filled  their  years  with 
right  living,  would  teach  much  that  I  have  men- 
tioned ;  but  when  we  turn  to  the  history  of  the  ground 
in  the  last  two  hundred  and  fifty  years,  and  add  to 
that  the  history  of  others  of  the  Colonies  to  which 
the  many  exhibits  draw  attention,  it  seems  not  too 
much  to  claim  a  great  usefulness  for  the  Museum, 
and  to  hope  that  it  may  be  open  to  the  public  for 
all  time. 


[22] 


A  STUDY  OF  VAN  CORTLANDT  HOUSE 
By  Norman  Morrison  Isham,  F.  A.  I.  A. 

The  taking  of  the  Dutch  Colony  by  the  English 
in  1666  marked  the  beginning  of  a  change  in  the 
architecture  of  the  New  Netherlands.  This  change 
seems,  however,  to  have  been  of  exceedingly  slow 
development,  and,  in  the  remoter  settlements,  of 
almost  no  effect.  The  farmers  and  the  village  peo- 
ple generally  would  have  little  to  say  to  the  English 
fashions.  The  mercantile  class  would  be  the  first 
to  show  the  effect  of  the  new  style,  and  even  this  was 
probably  very  slow  to  take  up  with  it.  The  com- 
mercial supremacy  of  England,  as  the  eighteenth 
century  grew  older,  began,  however,  to  show  itself 
in  the  buildings  of  the  wealthier  classes,  at  any  rate 
in  the  large  towns,  which  show  dwellings  like  the 
Van  Rensselaer  and  the  Schuyler  house  at  Albany. 
Another  instance  of  the  English  character  of  even 
the  later  country  dwelling  built  when  the  wealth 
of  the  family  had  increased,  is  the  new  mansion 
erected  on  the  banks  of  the  Mosholu  Brook  by 
Frederick  Van  Cortlandt  in  1748. 

Yet  the  Van  Cortlandt  mansion  is  not  thoroughly 
English.  It  has  an  English  dress,  indeed,  for  the 
State  apartments  are  quite  in  the  new  manner,  but 
some  of  the  more  domestic  rooms  show  stronger 
Dutch  influence,  till  we  come  to  the  kitchen  which 
is  the  most  Dutch  of  all. 

[23] 


The  plan  of  the  building  has  the  L-shape  which, 
whether  it  was  built  at  one  time,  or  was  the  result  of 
additions,  was  beloved  of  the  Dutch  craftsmen. 

Neither  wing  of  the  "L"  is  more  than  one  room 
deep.  In  the  main  block,  which  faces  about  south, 
are  two  rooms,  an  East  Parlor  and  a  West  Parlor, 
which  have  each  a  chimney,  and  which  are  sep- 
arated by  an  entry  or  passage  containing  the  prin- 
cipal stairs.  The  fireplace  of  the  West  Parlor  is  on 
the  outer  wall  of  the  house,  and  that  of  the  East 
Parlor  is  on  the  same  wall  which  is  continued  east- 
ward along  the  south  side  of  the  passage,  or  entry, 
in  the  "L."  This  passage,  which  also  contains  a 
staircase,  separates  the  East  Parlor  from  what  was 
probably  the  original  Dining  Room  at  the  north  end 
of  the  "L." 

Both  these  stairs  are  carried  up  into  the  garret. 
There  is  a  little  Dutch  feeling  in  the  main  flight, 
but  it  is  not  obtrusive.  The  strongest  touch  of  it  is 
in  the  balusters  of  the  last  run  of  the  staircase  in  the 
passage.  These  are  sawed  out  of  boards  and  not 
turned,  but  the  profile  is  quite  Netherlandish. 

The  West  Parlor  has  now  a  late  mantel  of  1835 
thrust  into  the  old  panelling,  while  the  fireplace 
which  it  surrounds  has  been  built  into  the  older  and 
larger  one.  The  whole  end  of  the  room  is  panelled, 
with  a  closet  in  each  side  of  the  chimney,  and  this 
work  is  probably  contemporary  with  the  house.  It 
seems  to  be  entirely  English  in  its  character,  and 
shows  that  this  room  was  originally  meant  to  be  the 
finest  in  the  house. 

If  the  East  Parlor  was  originally  panelled  like 
the  West  Parlor  that  panelling  was  soon  taken  out 

[24] 


and  a  mantel  put  in  which  is  a  beautiful  example  of 
the  Georgian  manner,  and  which  very  probably  was 
imported.  It  seems  certain,  however,  that  this  was 
not  at  first  the  principal  room,  that  it  had  originally 
no  panelling  at  all  and  that  the  mantel  was  put  in 
only  when  it  was  thought  proper,  after  fashion  had 
changed,  to  finish  up  the  apartment,  so  as  to  make  it 
the  chief  room  of  the  house.  Our  ancestors  did  much 
more  of  this  piecemeal  finishing  than  we  have  yet 
given  them  credit  for.  Indeed,  we  are  learning  some- 
thing new  about  their  building  methods  almost 
continually. 

At  some  later  time  the  room  was  done  over  in 
the  style  of  the  Greek  Revival,  with  a  plaster  cor- 
nice. 

In  restoring  this  room  it  was  determined,  with- 
out disturbing  the  mantel  of  course,  to  panel  it  as  it 
might  have  been  panelled  from  floor  to  ceiling,  on 
all  four  sides,  with  the  raised  and  bevelled  panels 
which  succeeded  those  with  the  heavy  bolection 
mouldings  so  much  liked  by  Wren. 

The  "L"  was  not  occupied  by  the  Kitchen,  as  it 
would  have  been  in  a  colonial  house  of  the  English 
type,  but  by  the  Dining  Room  in  which  the  present 
woodwork  is  later  than  1800.  The  Dutch  tradition 
prevailed  and  the  Kitchen,  in  many  ways  the  most 
interesting  room  in  the  house,  was  put  in  the  Cellar. 
Its  fireplace,  with  an  oven  at  one  side,  is  a  veritable 
cavern,  though  it  is  small  compared  to  some  of  the 
seventeenth  century  specimens.  There  is  no  mantel- 
tree,  but  a  bent  iron  bar  sustains  the  very  flat  ellip- 
tical arch  which  spans  the  opening.  The  ceiling  is 

[25] 


not  plastered  and  the  beams  of  the  floor  above,  5x10 
nearly,  and  about  11  inches  apart  are  plainly  to  be 
seen  with  all  the  marks  of  the  broad-axes  of  the  old 
workmen.  It  is  a  mistake  to  call  these  old  cuts  adze 
marks.  The  adze  was  a  tool  for  use  when  the  surface 
to  be  cut  was  horizontal  and  could  not  be  turned  to 
a  vertical  position,  and  thus  could  not  be  attacked 
with  the  axe.  It  is  more  a  shipwright's  than  a  house- 
wright's  tool. 

In  the  chambers  the  west  room  is  panelled  on 
the  fireplace  end  with  considerable  elaboration, 
while  the  East  Room  is  quite  plain,  showing  indeed, 
only  a  mantel,  a  fact  which  supports  the  theory  that 
the  East  Parlor  below  it  was  originally  a  very  plain 
room  and  that  the  mantel,  one  of  the  best  on  the 
seaboard,  was  added  later.  The  North  Chamber  is 
more  elaborate  again  than  the  East  Room,  though 
not  so  much  so  as  the  West  Room,  which  was  evi- 
dently the  State  Sleeping  Apartment.  It  is  this 
North  Room  which  has  been  fitted  up  as  the  princi- 
pal apartment  of  a  prosperous  Dutchman  of  the  late 
seventeenth  century.  The  transition  from  the 
negative  type  to  that  which  came  in  during  the 
eighteenth  century,  under  the  English  rule,  can  thus 
be  very  clearly  seen  within  this  one  building. 

In  the  garret  of  the  front  block  are  two  rooms, 
one  of  which  has  been  fitted  up  with  New  England 
panelling.  In  the  "L"  garret  there  are  several  rooms 
which  probably  do  not  go  back  to  the  original  house. 
The  Dutch  flavor  here,  however,  is  more  pro- 
nounced. There  are  two  doors  and  some  hardware 
which  are  strongly  of  that  character.  Perhaps  the 
doors  were  brought  from  the  story  below,  for  it  is 

[26] 


not  certain  that  the  present  roof  and  garret  are  orig- 
inal, even  if  there  were  rooms  in  the  third  story  at 
the  beginning.  A  hip  roof,  however,  was  to  be  ex- 
pected, as  in  the  Glenn-Sanders  house  at  Scotia,  and 
the  pitch  of  the  roof  is  what  we  should  look  for. 

It  has  been  the  general  intention  to  keep  the 
house  furnisheH  as  it  would  have  been  in  its  prime — 
the  time  from  the  date  of  its  building  to  the  Revo- 
lution. The  Dutch  Room,  of  course,  is  a  thing  by 
itself,  and  even  in  the  other  rooms  some  fine  seven- 
teenth century  pieces  have  been  displayed  for  their 
educational  value.  Now  and  then,  also,  a  late  piece 
of  exceptional  merit  has  been  used. 

In  the  East  Parlor  a  fine  secretary  of  about 
1760  stands  between  the  windows  on  the  eastern 
wall.  It  once  belonged  to  Mr.  Canfield  and  is 
very  probably  an  early  piece  by  John  Goddard,  of 
Newport,  one  of  the  finest  of  our  Colonial  cabinet 
makers.  It  is  the  eighth  of  his  secretaries  known  to 
be  in  existence. 

The  lowboy  between  the  southern  windows  was 
made  by  William  Savery,  of  Philadelphia,  another 
noted  Colonial  craftsman,  whose  advertisement  is 
pasted  in  the  top  drawer. 

All  Sorts  of  Chairs  and 
Joiners  Work 
Made  and  Sold  by 
WILLIAM  SAVERY 
At  the  Sign  of  the 
Chair,  a  little  be- 
low the  Market,  in 
Second  Street. 

PHILADELPHIA 
[27] 


Over  this  piece  is  a  fine  gilt  mirror  of  Chip- 
pendale type. 

Two  other  Chippendale  pieces  are  the  elegant 
sofa  against  the  west  wall,  north  of  the  door,  and  the 
delicately  beautiful  Pembroke  table  in  the  corner 
next  to  the  chimney. 

The  middle  of  the  room  is  occupied  by  two  won- 
derful Chippendale  seats  and  a  magnificent  tripod 
or  tip  table  with  a  pie-crust  and  claw-and-ball  feet 
— an  astonishing  specimen — a  present  from  General 
Nathanael  Greene,  of  Rhode  Island,  to  Madam  Van 
Vechten,  of  Finderne,  New  Jersey,  at  whose  house 
he  stayed  in  the  winter  of  Valley  Forge.  From  the 
Misses  Frelinghuysen,  descendants  of  Madam  Van 
Vechten,  the  table  came  to  Mrs.  Margaret  Elmen- 
dorf  Sloan,  whose  children  gave  it  to  the  Society 
of  Colonial  Dames  of  the  State  of  New  York. 

In  the  center  of  the  present  Dining  Room,  the  old 
West  Parlor,  is  an  American  gate-legged  or  "thou- 
sand-legged" table  with  an  oval  top.  It  has  beside 
it  two  very  fine  walnut  chairs,  one  with  cane  seat  and 
back,  of  about  1700,  the  other  with  a  banister-back, 
of  a  little  later  date. 

Another  seventeenth  century  American  piece  is 
the  fine  oak  chest  with  one  drawer.  This  stands  be- 
tween the  southern  windows  and  has  beside  it  still 
another  early  example  in  the  very  interesting  but- 
terfly table  on  the  west  wall.  On  the  other  side  is  a 
Turkey  work  chair  that  can  hardly  be  excelled. 

On  the  east  wall  is  an  extremely  good  six-legged 
highboy  with  a  cushion-front  drawer  just  under  its 
flat  top. 


[28] 


In  the  East  Parlor  Chamber  there  is,  on  the 
door  to  the  north  stair  hall,  a  very  curious  bolt 
which,  by  means  of  a  cord,  could  be  released  by  a 
person  in  bed  without  getting  up,  so  that  the  servant 
could  come  in  to  make  the  wood  fire  in  the  morning. 

On  the  south  wall  of  this  room  is  a  fine  block 
front  dressing  table  of  mahogany,  possibly  by  John 
Goddard,  while  the  walnut  period  is  represented  by 
the  highboy  with  its  curved  broken  pediment.  Near 
by  is  a  notable  "wing"  or  easy  chair  with  claw-and- 
ball  feet. 

The  Dining  Room  Chamber  —  once  the  West 
Parlor  Chamber — contains  a  bed  of  the  early  eigh- 
teenth century  with  hangings  covering  all  its  posts, 
as  was  the  fashion  at  that  date. 

Over  the  mantel  is  a  mirror  of  1680.  Near  the 
bed  is  an  excellent  example  of  a  couch  or  day-bed, 
the  precursor  of  the  couch  of  the  present  time,  and 
against  the  wall  stands  an  inlaid  lowboy. 

The  Dutch  Room  has  a  very  fine  painted  Kas 
cupboard,  and  a  most  interesting  model  of  a  Dutch 
sloop.  This  model,  which  dates  from  1705,  came 
from  the  counting  room  of  an  old  shipbuilding  firm 
after  the  last  member  had  died.  It  was  wont  to  be 
taken  out  and  blessed  whenever  the  real  vessel  which 
it  represented  put  out  to  sea. 

The  sleigh  is  Dutch  also,  that  is,  Holland  Dutch, 
and  was  brought  over  by  the  first  Van  Rennselaer 
who  came  to  this  country. 

In  the  further  left  hand  or  northwest  corner  is  an 
excellent  example  of  a  ship's  treasure  chest  of  paint- 
ed iron — one  of  the  kind  which  figures  in  the  fabled 
burials  of  money  by  Captain  Kidd.   Above  it  is  a 

[29] 


very  noteworthy  Dutch  china  cupboard  with  a  curv- 
ing, well  carved,  and  with  glazed  doors. 

On  the  floor  is  a  real  Dutch  rug  or  carpet. 

A  beautiful  maple  desk  and  a  wagon  chair,  as 
it  was  called,  are  notable  exhibits  in  the  Southeast 
Chamber  of  the  Garret. 

Perhaps  the  most  interesting  piece  in  the  South- 
west Garret  is  the  Doll's  House  made  for  a  mem- 
ber of  the  Homans  family,  of  Boston,  in  1744.  It 
is  now  being  filled  with  furniture  which  repro- 
duces in  miniature  that  in  the  Van  Cortlandt  House 
itself. 

There  are  also  some  remarkable  early  toys  in  this 
room,  a  cradle  covered  with  leather  and  a  very  good 
gate-legged  table. 

The  preservation  of  this  house  means  far  more 
than  the  maintaining  of  a  museum,  and  thus  of  an 
object  lesson  in  the  domestic  life  of  our  fathers. 
Such  a  house  is  not  a  mere  landmark  in  our  social 
or  military  history,  it  is  a  monument  in  the  history 
of  our  architecture  as  well.  Even  with  the  restora- 
tions which  have  been  made  for  the  purpose  of 
showing  special  periods  in  the  manner  of  a  museum, 
the  house  is  practically  undisturbed  and  forms,  just 
as  a  fabric,  just  as  a  matter  of  design  and  construc- 
tion, a  most  important  and  valuable  example  of  the 
Georgian  or  English  type  of  Colonial  house,  tinged 
in  the  most  interesting  way  with  the  Dutch  influence 
of  the  former  New  Amsterdam. 

Norman  Morrison  Isham. 


[30] 


AUTHORITIES  REFERRED  TO 

"History  Westchester  Co." 
Shonnard  and  Spooner 

"Journal  of  Lieutenant  John  Charles  Philip  Von  Kraft 
of  the  Regiment  Von  Bose,  1776-1784." 

"Westchester  Guides" 

Manuscript  in  New  York  Historical  Society,  by 
John  M.  McDonald 


